AUSTRALIA 5 – 1 CROATIA
Australia moved into the last 16 of the World Cup of Darts after winning their opening match, a 5-1 demolition of Croatia, in Hamburg on Friday evening.
Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson stormed to victory despite falling a leg behind against Robert Marijanovic and Tonci Restovic, and immediately set their sights on glory.
“We are here to win this,” said Nicholson, who was narrowly denied the title with Whitlock in last year’s final.
“We only get to do this once a year and you don’t get many opportunities to represent the country that you love.
The Australian pair fell behind in an opening leg which saw Marijanovic score the games’ first maximum.
Whitlock responded with a 180 for Australia before cleaning up 54 to level the match.
Nicholson pinned double top to grab the first break of throw, giving his country the lead, which was increased to 3-1 when ‘The Wizard’ took out 81.
The Australians continued to finish clinically as Whitlock finished 60 to leave them throwing for the match.
And ‘The Wizard’ finished the job as last year’s runners up booked their place in the knockout stages with ease.
Australia will face New Zealand in their final group game on Saturday afternoon.
Whitlock added: “We played a nice solid game and it’s fantastic to be through already but we will be out to carry this on by beating New Zealand.”
By Chris Murphy